Jessica Jensen has been named assistant director of the Center for Disaster Studies and Emergency Management, according to center co-directors Daniel J. Klenow and George A. Youngs.

Jensen, who has a Presidential Dissertation Fellowship, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University-Northridge and a master’s degree in emergency management from NDSU. A Presidential Dissertation Fellowship provides a full tuition waiver and a $16,000 stipend for four years. It is considered the top-funding category for graduate students.

In 2008, she received a National Science Foundation-sponsored Quick Response Grant from the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The grant allowed her to travel to a disaster site to immediately begin gathering data on response efforts. Most of her research has focused on the National Incident Management System, which was implemented after the World Trade Center attack.

Currently, Jensen is directing a research project for the International Association of Emergency Managers detailing the response infrastructure of 194 countries.